Satellite Provider DirecTV Shows Interest in Streaming, Mulls Making a Bid for Hulu

DirecTV is reportedly giving some serious thought to making an offer for Hulu, the six-year-old video streaming site. Should DirecTV make a formal bid, it's not a foregone conclusion that Hulu would accept it, as the site's owners -- Walt Disney Co., News Corp., and Comcast -- are looking at various options, including bids from other interested parties.

Citing people who are familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reports that DirecTV could use the acquisition to beef up its "TV Everywhere" service, a platform that makes its content available to pay TV subscribers over the Internet.

You get the sense from reading the article that talks are in the very early stages. For example, it's not yet clear if DirecTV is thinking about purchasing Hulu outright or investing in a minority stake. It's also not the first time DirecTV has shown interest in Hulu, as it mulled it over when the video sharing site made it known it was for sale back in 2011. Obviously nothing ever came from that.

Hulu is currently home to around four million paid subscribers to its Hulu Plus service, versus Netflix, which has 28 million paid streaming subscribers.